Has Remi Resuscitated Us?

You know those scenes in films and TV shows, where the patient is rushed into the emergency room, shirt ripped open by medical staff as the doctor rushes to prepare the electric shock resuscitator. He then shouts 'CLEAR!!' and administers a jolt throughout the barely alive individual. The pulse is barely more than a flatline, but then suddenly, it beeps and spikes and that patient is alive and fighting for life once more.

That patient is Aston Villa. And Remi Garde is the doctor!

And boy, did he get to us just in time.

For the first time Since August, I have not had my weekend ruined by Aston Villa (yes, even the draw with Sunderland ruined my weekend). I have forgotten what this feeling was like. The rot and festering decay of loss upon loss has been halted, and whilst a 0-0 is nothing we should usually be getting excited about, what it potentially represents is absolutely huge.

With our dreadful run of losses, and on top of that Manchester City's good form coming into this game, no one gave us much of a chance. I think the general consensus even amongst our own supporters was that we were going to lose this one as well. We had a new manager, but realistically, he would not be judged on this game. It was a free pass for him in many ways. He's only had a few training sessions with the players after all. Get this tonking out of the way and then over the international break, we'll resume, and then we begin for real.

But Remi had other ideas. 

Instantly, the fans were lifted purely by the team selection. Garde had given us more or less what we had been asking for. Speaking for myself at least, the positives were that I was glad to see Joleon Lescott dropped, Ashley Westwood not making it, and Gabby Agbonlahor out injured (although I doubt he would've played anyway). On top of this, I was excited to see Jordan Amavi back in the side, pleased to see Jordan Veretout given a chance, and most of all just relieved to see that Garde had not made the same mistake as his predecessors and finally given a deserved start to Carles Gil. Jordan Ayew was also worthy of his opportunity to begin the game upfront in place of Rudy Gestede, after scoring twice in the last two league games. I also thought the selection of Carlos Sanchez and Idrissa Gueye was spot on as our defensive midfield pairing.

I tweeted my thoughts on this instantly - this line-up had left me feeling slightly optimistic. With City having had a tough midweek Champions League game away to Sevilla, and with a couple of key players out, maybe there was a chance for us.

But of course, surely all that wouldn't matter. We were bottom of the league! Man City were top. It was a formality!

However, we looked impressive from the very beginning. Full of energy, pressing when we needed to but for the most part, we were in control in possession anyway, passing it around very neatly and quickly, and there was a lot of one touch passing which was great to see. Gil in particular was scampering away, from one side to the other, trying to create an opening. He is, technically, by far and away our best player and found a teammate with 34 of his 35 passes which is superb. 

I thought Veretout looked extremely comfortable on the ball, and showed great special awareness, twisting and turning himself out of some tight spots. I had noted in my last blog that whilst I did rate Sanchez and thought he should be playing, his passing was generally appalling; however, he had obviously read my words and decided to show me what's what and his passing was much improved, even spraying a few accurate 40 yard passes around. Amavi and Sinclair worked well together on the left side, with the former especially showcasing his attacking talents that have been missing since he was dropped by Tim Sherwood. 

The team had real energy and seemingly no fear, and it was actually enjoyable to see us playing football. However, much like a lethargic lovemaking encounter, our penetration was pretty much non-existent. 

We rode our luck several times in the second half, but we were never going to be able to completely shut City out for 90 minutes. We were fortunate that Sergio Aguero and David Silva were both ruled out, and that Wilfried Bony injured himself and had to go off which did leave them somewhat blunt in attack. With the exception of Kevin De Bruyne, and to an extent Raheem Sterling, their attacking options were severally limited in truth. Yet, thanks to a combination of Sterling opting to take a dive, De Bruyne's ridiculous attempt at showboating instead of converting, Brad Guzan literally using his head for once, and our crossbar, we survived. This of course, is not doing justice to our defence, with Micah Richards and Ciaran Clark throwing themselves into every tackle and winning the 50/50's which limited City to only a handful of clear chances, instead of completely landsliding us.

In fact, the team as a whole just worked incredibly hard and it made me proud to be a Villa fan which hasn't been the case so far this season. That, however, is the absolute minimum we should be expecting from our players. The fans appreciated it and that is all we ask for at this point in time.

Incredibly, Even Charles N'Zogbia looked up for it after coming on as a sub in his surprise recall to the squad. Should we read anything into the fact the N'Zogbia was preferred to Jack Grealish to enter the field? Possibly not, but it will be interesting to see if this selection continues after the international break. It will also be interesting to see whether Adama Traore can feature at all in this side - he didn't even make the matchday squad on this occasion and should we now be concerned that he just may not be quite what we have all expected him to be if he is failing to even make the bench?

Despite the bounce that a new manager brings, it was impressive to see just how quickly Garde had instilled some belief, solidarity and organisation into the side. It bodes well to see that sloppy mistakes had been cut out, and that the back four was structured to such an extent within such a limited timeframe. It was by no means watertight, but work has certainly begun on fixing those leaks that were drowning us. 

Garde must now also spend time on formulating a plan to make us sharper in attack. It cannot be overlooked that we had a total of zero shots on target. However, it must also be put into perspective that this City side had endured a miserly total of just 28 shots on target so far in the league this season - it was unlikely that we were going to muster much of an attacking threat and it was, in this instance, pleasing enough to see us keep a clean sheet and give ourselves a platform on which to build going forwards.

Overall, it completely highlights that we have some very good players and should not be sitting bottom of the table. It also unfortunately underlines that Sherwood switched our team around ten different times in the league this season and couldn't stumble upon a side that has taken Garde just one attempt to do so. It was glaringly obvious to every single supporter which players should've been playing. Garde has picked the best available players in their most effective positions. It does make you wonder just what Sherwood was thinking; was he really jeopardising Aston Villa for the sake of making a point about our transfer policy, and neglecting to play certain players despite knowing that they would be better options? Likewise, Kevin McDonald should be ashamed of his team selection against Spurs which was even more cumbersome than usual until Gil and Ayew were introduced.

For Garde, and everyone connected with Villa, It was an important first step. Although still in critical condition, we've at least responded and finally shown some signs of life.

One final note, the hostility towards Delph was completely expected and deserved and that noise was absolutely incredible. If anyone other than a Villa fan is reading this and seeing it as a case of Villa fans being bitter about him moving to further his career then this blog piece will explain it very clearly for you - fbdwf.blogspot.com

Similarly, Joe Hart only has himself to blame for that corner. Anyone expecting us to then not take that set piece in the name of 'sportsmanship' is having a laugh.

@lovespud83